Military encryption isn’t going to cut it if the VPN itself isn’t reliable. However, it’s 2022, we have an updated AVG VPN review and new test results. Does AVG perform well this year?
For the majority, a VPN should be able to provide every ounce of security measures when we surf the internet. It’s your given right, especially if you’re going to pay an extra fee for online protection.
However, there shouldn’t always be a price tag where security is concerned. But for the amount you’re being asked to pay, for AVG VPN services, you’re obligated to expect nothing but the best.
I wasn’t too keen on the outcome of the test results last year but decided to test the VPN again. This will show you if AVG VPN has made any improvements over the years.
AVG Secure VPN Review – At a glance
| Base | Czech Republic |
| Price | $3.99/mo. |
| Servers | Servers in 30+ Countries) |
| Logs | Yes |
| Multi- Login | 10 Multi-Login Devices |
| Refund | 30-Days |
| Recommended | No |
| Website | avg.com |
AVG According To My Rating Criteria
It’s best to rate a VPN not by just word of mouth but by actually seeing whether it checks all your boxes; meeting your criteria or preference.
I’ll be giving an honest opinion on AVG VPN towards the end of this review; based on the following:
- Pricing
- Location
- Security
- Invisibility
- Streaming
- Speed
- Compatibility
- Reliability
Pricing – How much does AVG VPN cost and is it worth the money?
Although there’s a decrease in the AVG VPN price, I still believe that it isn’t worth your money.
As you move along, you’ll see just why.
Usually, I’d discuss the locality first, on how safe a VPN is, but for AVG, it’s better to jump right into the pricing bandwagon.
This will give you a wider look at knowing how much you’re investing and all your about to invest your money into. This is the case because there are some affordable and reliable VPN services while some are not great.
To get right to it, a lot has changed over the year where the AVG VPN pricing is concerned. It used to be for around $6.11/mo. and catered towards only 1 device usage at a time.
As of recent, AVG VPN managed to slightly lower its prices. Here’s what they look like now:
The prices are quite affordable, however, it’s better to see how the VPN performs overall.
7-day free trial & 30-day refund
AVG VPN does offer a 7-day free trial for Mac and Windows users and also includes a 30-day refund policy. So, before considering buying the VPN, be sure to vouch for their free trial or refund, without having to pay a dime.
AVG VPN’s payment methods
AVG’s payment methods are a little limited; allowing you to pay through only:
- Credit Card
- Debit Card
- PayPal
Location – Where is AVG VPN located?
AVG VPN is located in the Czech Republic, where there aren’t any data retention laws of the sort. That’s one of the main reasons for digging deep into the origin of its location.
So that’s a win-win situation!
What puts a dent into things –
Although hailing from a privacy-friendly region, it’s been seen that AVG had been acquired by AVAST in 2016 (parenting company) which according to the public and my vote, seems kind of edgy.
Keeping that in mind, AVG’s privacy policy laws state to have a hold of its users’ VPN data for around three months, but of course, you can take it up or consult the designated authorities.
AVG VPN server coverage – What’s served?
Okay so now that we’ve established its privacy-observant locality, let’s talk about the servers it provides.
If you’ve already gone through the specifications list that I provided at the very beginning, you’ll see that AVG doesn’t really offer a wide list of servers.
AVG offers servers in 50+ cities and 36 countries, with almost 7 of its servers based in the US. Even though it still provides way more servers as compared to other VPNs like Avast, it all comes down to what we’re getting out from it in terms of the price.
Security – Discussing Encryption & other Features
One of the main reasons to buy any VPN is to secure all your surfing ventures, leaving no digital footprints behind.
The first question anyone, including myself, would ask is if this VPN is really the one for me.
But before jumping into whether AVG ticks all our security boxes, it’s better to know what AVG VPN does.
According to AVG VPN’s home support FAQ’s;
Sadly, AVG does not provide one of the main features any VPN should have, which is the Kill Switch which we’ll discuss later on.
Apart from this, we start off with the protocols and encryption features that AVG VPN offers which seems to be respectable.
Security at a glance –
- Speaking about protocols, AVG is operable using the OpenVPN protocol, which is by far the safest kind that any VPN should envelop. This provides you a danger-free surfing experience with pleasing security for your devices.
- It uses OpenSSL library and certificate verification for an extra bit of security and added protection.
- Where encryption is concerned, it uses a military-grade level of 256-Bit AES, which is impeccable, adding to its perks, keeping its users’ data private and secure.
A Major Downer –
No Kill Switch:
AVG VPN has a major fallback with its lack of features. Especially in the case of not coming with an in-built kill switch.
All great VPN providers should definitely come with a kill switch. I mean, it’s your privacy at stake.
Here’s what CNET had to say regarding the matter:
Invisibility – Will AVG VPN cause IP/DNS & WebRTC leaks?
Knowing that no kill switch was part of the deal, I tried my best to keep my hopes up, praying that AVG VPN doesn’t have any leaks for IP, DNS, and WebRTC.
For that, you’ll have to scroll a little ahead to see what results I rendered. Hold on to your hats!
For my IP, DNS and WebRTC I connected to all US servers.
For my IP leak test, I used https://ipleak.org/. The results were: (N0 LEAK)
For my DNS leak test, I used http://dnsleak.com/. The results were: (LEAKED)
For my WebRTC test, I used https://browserleaks.com/webrtc. The results were: (LEAKED)
Besides these, I also took a virus test with the Windows version, via virustotal.com and ran some miscellaneous files through it. The results came back positive.
Regardless of the positive outcome for the virus scan; having no Malware found, there’s no option for scanning through the iOS and Android versions, with confirmation from the support team.
Now that we’ve come to the end of the testing, with the IP and Malware results coming back positive but a double negative for both DNS and WebRTC, I’m honestly at a loss for words regarding the lack of security added towards this VPN.
But still keeping the door for hope wide open, let’s move on to streaming.
Streaming – Can AVG VPN unblock Netflix?
Even though it works well for streaming, the Netflix controversy is still under process. Read on!
When debating about accessing unrestricted or the need for limitless streaming, Netflix comes to mind.
There are quite a hand-full of customers who weren’t very satisfied with the results, as AVG VPN did not unblock Netflix.
For this reason, I was surprised that it actually did provide access to US Netflix content, and to do that you have to turn on the AVG VPN after downloading it, and most definitely connect to a US server and pray it runs smoothly.
But, the results for access to Netflix always vary from user to user.
Since streaming is on a roll, how about unblocking Hulu, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer & HBO GO, and Kodi?
As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. And I believe we have found it!
There are quite a few streaming services that are extremely difficult to unblock, in general, and only the best VPN can help with that. A few of these include BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Hotstar, Disney Plus, Amazon Video, and other services.
Even though AVG VPN lacks in the basics and well the most important aspects like proper security, it does, however, just like Netflix, managed to unblock BBC iPlayer.
Kodi, on the other hand, is a geographically restricted media player; allowing you to stream free content only after having connected to a VPN. Honestly, it’s still unknown whether AVG VPN does help with unblocking Kodi. However, if you’re looking for a VPN that works with Kodi and other services, there are better options to consider.
Just testing our luck, but can we torrent securely with AVG VPN?
Yes, it does!
Torrenting or P2P file sharing is extremely risky and requires a VPN that’s compatible with it. And to our luck, it actually does support torrenting, almost effortlessly!
Even though AVG VPN has overrun its negative points, we got to hand it to them for the fact that they have servers specifically assigned towards P2P.
All in all, if nothing goes as planned for you, you could always turn to a more reasonably priced VPN that exceeds in superlative features and security, like that of Surfshark VPN.
Speed – Is AVG VPN fast? Or is that just wishful thinking?
Speed is one of the main features to look for, which make up a quarter of a VPN’s performance. Many people use a VPN to mainly access streaming services from anywhere in the world. But, along with unblocking these platforms, you’re also going to need a VPN that is reliable in speed.
So, is AVG VPN worthy of a great speed performance?
I conducted 3 different trials, one without connecting to the VPN and 2 based on US and UK servers, which are said to run the best.
The result before connecting to the VPN was:
The results after connecting to a US-New York server were:
Results after connecting to a UK-London server were:
The results all came down to AVG VPN providing very poor connection speed.
Compatibility – What platforms & devices work with AVG VPN?
After going through most of the specifications, let’s talk about the devices and platforms it supports. I mean what’s the point of buying a VPN that doesn’t run on the most important platforms?…right?
Luckily for AVG VPN, it fits right in place with a multi-device platform and operating system. These are:
- Windows
- Apple macOS
- Android
- iOS
All you’d have to do is retrieve a license for each of the operating systems.
Drawback –
The only drawback in terms of supported devices is that AVG VPN is not compatible or acceptable with routers which put a dent in adding access to Smart TVs. But to make things a little better, it does actually work well with Smart Android TV’s that can be downloaded from the Google Play store.
Does it include browser extensions?
No, it doesn’t.
Thinking that maybe AVG VPN would at least have proxy extensions for the famous browsers since its device compatibility is very limited, but the answer I was looking for wasn’t a positive one. Sadly, no! All-important browsers like Google Chrome, Opera, and Mozilla Firefox have been left without any extensions. But let’s stay hopeful for the future, maybe?
User-friendly interface – Is AVG VPN easy to use, even for a newbie?
The good part about AVG VPN is its user-friendly interface which seemingly allows even the most non-technical person to adjust to it; widening access for navigation or operation. That is a plus point on its own.
Gaming Consoles and Streaming Devices
Not to be a Debbie-Downer, but since it’s already been mentioned above, regarding AVG VPN’s lack of compatibility with routers, this puts a big hole in being of any service towards gaming consoles or devices.
So let’s just say you’ll have to move on to looking for another VPN for smooth gaming access.
But just for your reference, here’s a list of popular gaming platforms that AVG VPN does not work well with:
- Xbox
- PlayStation
- Roku
- Chromecast
There are VPN’s that do work well for ROKU, so how about looking into that as well?
Reliability – Is AVG VPN honest?
After going through the extremely bumpy review, you can’t help but wonder if you should really go for a VPN that doesn’t take up any responsibility towards securing every user experience.
Even though they failed at not keep any tabs on the logging policy; not scaling through their users’ online activity, there still lies a huge hole in trustworthiness.
What the Reddit community had to say:
The hard truth – (It’s privacy policy)
And speaking of trustworthiness, AVG VPN’s privacy policy is completely absurd; with having its parent company (AVAST), keeping a close eye, and recording the majority of its user’s information. If you’d like to get a closer idea at just what it collects, here’s a list:
- Email addresses
- Geographic locations
- IP addresses (big fail)
- SIM card numbers
- Phone numbers
On a brighter note – (GDPR protection)
It does focus on quite a different approach compared to other VPNs, regarding its data protection laws and follows GDPR guidelines. By the looks of it, they do focus by carefully selecting their staff for its activation.
What about customer support?
For most of us VPN users, we love to have online chat support available to us at all times. Sadly, AVG VPN doesn’t support live customer care options.
For most of its usage, you’ll probably have to send in a support token and wait forever to get any desirable results via email.
It’s quite uncanny that in order to get any customer support at all from AVG VPN, you’ll have to make a call to the helpline or send an email, which by the way; costs quite a bit to get any quick fixes.
On the other hand, there’s another option if you need any quick answers, or well at least for free. There’s the option of community support, just in case you need any direction or answers to a few questions, which gets solved in a jiffy.
Al-in-all, do I recommend AVG VPN?
Honestly and quite frankly, I did not recommend it in 2020, and after having reviewed it again, I still don’t recommend it in 2022.
AVG Secure VPN is deemed as an internet privacy service put together by the team of AVG.
Even though it’s most widely recognized for its anti-virus services, (which by the way works great running by the test I took); it opened its doors; catering towards adding privacy towards your internet surfing.
Judging by its’ services, let’s just say that AVG isn’t the best VPN out there but it’s not the worst.
Where it lacks in speed, leakage, and security, it makes up for in torrenting and streaming; unblocking US Netflix with US servers.
Apart from that, it promises to provide over the top security but according to me, fails miserably and a 24/7 customer support system that takes a decade to get back to you, if I must be dramatic.
Bottom Line
AVG VPN is a plain-sailing VPN. It’s meant for those who are willing to spend quite a buck only towards streaming or downloading needs.
This provider doesn’t really perform its main task for aided security very well and lacks a mile in advanced features, servers. Then there’s also the very poor download speed performance.
But again it all depends on how you as a customer see it. If this AVG VPN review isn’t quite what you were hoping for, you could test the VPN using the 7-day trial. The results always vary.
There are other budgeted and highly secure VPNs that offer better performance. You can keep track of them on our VPN deals page.